MAGIC: Rising
by Interlooper
Summary: Those in the show business hardly refer to magician's work as "magic," as the masses use in their context. M.A.G.I.C is a term referring to the art given to a spectrum of individuals, called users, with special manipulation abilities that can be carefully disguised and integrated into a typical magic show/stunt. When one such user comes to town, things will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 0

Lawnmowers were everywhere.

Well, they would be naturally. It was Tuesday afternoon, and Timber Oak Park's grass was getting way too long for Timber Oak's surburban mom population to feel comfortable with. The maintenance crew figured that most of the park's usual visitors were away during the afternoon, but they still waved at the handful of people who did come out to feed the ducks and enjoy the sunshine.

One sight that stood out and made a couple workers get mad was a certain couple that were jogging - no, tearing through the grass that they had literally just cut. The workers squinted at the environmentally unruly scene, and at the culprits in particular. There was a goofy looking brunette with a bushy beard waving a picnic basket, and - was that a _pink_-haired girl?

Well, this wasn't an everyday sight, and almost to prove that point, a worker or two took the moment to snap a picture of the girl. The head man chuckled for no apparent reason, and so some of the laborers waved at the couple speeding towards an uncut hill.

The pair eventually reached the top of the grassy incline and fell over each other in fits of laughter. The guy pulled himself up and took out a tablecloth out of his bag, draping it partially over his companion. She lay motionless for a few moments, but curiousity overcame her resolve to be still.

"Come on, what are you doing now?"

He laughed as he set a couple of plates and wrapped food items on top of the covered girl. "Shade, remember when you said lunch was all on you? Now, it is."

She pulled back the cloth over her face and grinned. "Fine, but I'm so getting you back for this, Stri."

He did the thing with both his eyebrows. "How do you know I won't do a magic trick with this sheet here?"

Her slightly muffled voice still resounded through the cover. "Stri please."

Strieter, or Stri when it came to lazy people who couldn't spare a syllable more, smiled in return and switftly moved the items off her, and continued arranging lunch while his partner got up and stretched. It was only a matter of minutes before he finished making two grand sandwiches and handed one over to Shade. He watched her carefully inspect his handiwork, and mentally sighed in relief when she heartily took a bite.

They ate lunch quietly, taking in the moment, but Strieter couldn't stop himself from taking in the sight of his date. Her beautiful pink hair flowed over her shoulders like an unending cascade, and her emerald eyes were simply enchanting. On top of that she was cute and charming, and other things he wanted to say but didn't as he kept his gaze fixed. It wasn't before long that Shade had caught on to his staring.

"What's the matter?"

Stri closed his eyes, her afterimage showing up as a negative in the blackness created by his closed eyelids, and smiled.

"You look just amazing. Like wow."

Shade blushed, and subsequently stuck her tongue out. "Thanks. You look really handsome too, with that tom-selling facial hair of yours."

He turned a tomato red and stuffed his face his BLT to make up for his reaction. He savored his sandwich for a couple speechless moments before Shade spoke again.

"Hey, don't look now, but hasn't that guy been staring at us for the past couple of minutes?"

Strieter wiped his mouth clean and turned ever so slightly to see the man being talked about. Black pants, navy blue blazer, black muffler covering most of his face, baseball cap to round it off - this was clearly a man who had no sense of fashion. Apart from the odd getup, he seemed normal, as when Stri and Shade both looked at him, he gave a thumbs up.

Nothing about the man stood out, and Stri returned to his sandwich.

The tension in the air disappeared, and he smiled at the receding figure. With his mouth full, Stri pointed at the pink hair with his thumb and attempted to communicate.

"Hey, if I went back in time, I'd spend a few minutes looking at you too."

A smile broke out on Shade's face. "That's because you're sooooo in love with me."

He laughed for a moment, and then got close.

"That's enough for one day, Captain Obvious."

They both laughed again, and stopped when Shade suddenly clapped her hands.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you about the lights."

Stri went back to munching his sandwich. "What's new?"

Shade twiddled her fingers. "It's still really weird and annoying. Like, whenever I get really happy or mad, the lights do the thing where it gets really bright and it fuses. Basically, I found out that if I gesticu-...gesticulate...-"

He smiled. "It's pronounced gesticulate."

Shade gave a short laugh.

"Strieter, please. If we wrote our pronounciations on a piece of paper and gave it to someone to read, they wouldn't even know who was saying it right and who wasn't."

Stri's magnificent shining face changed into a blank expression.

"But-"

"No need to get worried - I was just saying, if that happened. "

He sighed. "You were saying, _gesticulate_?"

Shade clapped her hands again. "You know what? I'll use gesture instead. When I _gesture _directly above me, I can kinda' get the lights to however bright I want. I haven't tried too many times, though. I mean, I really don't want to think of how high the electric bills would go."

Strieter chuckled. "I see a very _bright_ future waiting for you."

She laughed. "You better not make _light_ of it, Stri."

Both of them laughed and collectively sighed. Shade moved over and leaned on Stri as she finished her sandwich. Stri consequently didn't move as he tried not to show his nervousness. He decided that the best course of action was to continue the conversation to thaw himself out, and in his state, stared absent-mindedly towards the rolling plain below.

"When you first told me about your light problem, I called my old schoolmates who had similar problems, to see how they handled things. There was Brandon and Mango...I guess I could throw Daisy in there too since she was with us all the time. You should definitely meet them though, maybe you'll learn a bunch from them."

Shade let her finger aimlessly trace the lines running all over Stri's plaid shirt. "It'd be nice to meet them too. But seriously, who the heck names their kid Mango? I get Daisy, but that's just really...odd."

Stri scratched his beard. "He's foreign, and instead of people misspelling and mispronouncing his name 24/7, he chose a nickname and stuck with it. It definitely made life a lot easier for him."

The pink-haired girl shrugged to that, and glanced at Stri.

"Do you ever think we'll get to see these friends of yours?"

Stri leaned backwards and threw his arms back to support himself. "In case I didn't tell you already, they said they'll be in town today. Come to think, we could even run into one of them on the way."

Shade's finger ceased to move. "That'll be pretty cool if we do. But still, I want to see my uncle again. And this time, I'll get to see him on stage."

Stri simply nodded, and tried to recall what Shade said about her family. She had an uncle Cooper that went missing a couple of years ago, sent a number of sporadic messages about how he was a magician, his successful tour, his remaining shows, and his constant fear of being followed. As far as Strieter knew, that sounded like some shady shit people write about in stories, but he wasn't one to judge. Well, not at least until they went to his show later that afternoon.

From what he had heard, Cooper the Great had actually visited town twice, the first show being shrouded in obscurity and the second being the most popular attraction in the region. He himself had heard of the magician, but it wasn't until Shade mentioned missing the second show that he started to think more importantly of him.

The brunette left the last of his sandwich hanging from his mouth, and consequently started to clean things up. Shade yawned and lazily rolled off the tablecover and onto the green. She started pushing crumbs from where she lay, and after being prodded with a smile from Stri, joined his cleaning efforts. Soon, they had taken care of the mess and they got up, stretching those dead legs and watching the park slowly come to life.

On the other side of the green, the stranger with the trashy sense of fashion observed the couple through binoculars that were fitted with an audio recepter addon. As the brown-haired guy and his date pointed in a certain direction and consequently clambered down the hill, the stranger hid the binoculars in a pocket and under the muffler, grinned at their departure.

Those blue eyes twinkled with excitement as he rose from his crouching position and started to back away into the woods. When Stri and Shade were no longer visible from his viewpoint, the man tossed the cap high in the air, exposing his own radically bright blue hair. He stood still, letting his hair and muffler bear the brunt of the wind, and as the wind subsided, unfurled a poster for Cooper the Great's magic show.

There were those classic big bright red letters on a yellow background, advertising the attraction, but those blue eyes only focused on the magician's image. With a quick jab, he poked a hole through Cooper's head, and let go, observing the poster lopsidedly spiral to the ground. Another trip into his pocket, and out flew a cigarette lighter, which neatly landed on top of the poster.

He snap-turned in the other direction, and walked off, making sure to step on the poster. The stranger looked at it one last time, and with a particularly tense expression, vanished in the daylight. The lighter was the only thing that marked his presence, and the single word inscribed on it was even more puzzling.

All it said -

-was 'Looker'


	2. Chapter 1: Resupply

As far as he remembered, he was profoundly anti-speedbump.

To be more precise, since the day he moved into town, Strieter detested the speedbumps that were haphazardly scattered around town, and to a slightly lesser degree, the bus. Its service almost seemed to thrive on speedbumps, and the driver always seemed to get thrills from the infinitisimal air time off each one. He had to admit though that the best facet of the system was its reliability and hospitality towards any poor soul that needed a lift, and that he'd have to live with it, like back in his school days.

But that was a long time ago.

Stri held his date's hand more tightly, his knuckles starting to whiten. Speedbumps were one of the most horrible things on the planet, but at least Shade was with him. That made things much more bearable.

Well, unless he counted the fact that Mango and Brandon were also on the bus at the same time, bringing up old school memories from the past and muttering about Stri's supposed lack of game, respectively. Because old mates randomly getting on the bus and finding out about your first girlfriend was always a good conversation to have in front of the girlfriend. He shfted in his seat uncomfortably, wanting to roll his eyes at the semi-embarassing introduction his friends offered:

"Oh hey - dammmmn Stri you got a real beauty. I'm Brandon, and I wanna know what drugs Stri gave you to stick with him."

"Don't mind him - he's probably wishing he had his high school game right now. Oh man, that brings memories. Call me Mango."

The local student and the foreign student started bickering amongst themselves, and Shade laughed at the sight.

"Well then, call me Shade. It's really nice to meet you guys. I mean, after Stri mentions he has friends, who wouldn't be surprised?"

At the laughter that all three bus riders shared, Stri wore an indifferent expression and shrugged in his defense. He had come out to have a good time and he was honestly feeling so attacked right then. Still, she was enjoying it all, so he didn't feel the need to interject in the continued self-sustainable comedy routine.

Brandon put his hand on his chin and gave Shade several mock questioning looks.

"Young lady, on the afternoon of today, just what exactly did Strieter tell you about us?"

"Brandon please, you're scaring the cute girl."

"Shut up Mango."

It was the perfect moment to interject, and as soon as Stri opened his mouth, he heard Shade's voice.

"So I'm having an issue where I can like, control lights around me, by just being there."

As Shade winced, Mango caught Brandon's eye and did the thing with his eyebrows.

"It just sounds really weird and Stri said that you guys went through something similar. Did you guys have a light problem too?"

In the unison that is rarely ever achieved except in unrealistic literature, both of the men spoke one single word.

"Magic."

There was no reaction from her, and Stri raised an eyebrow in reply. He had some idea of what the duo meant by that, but the last time he heard the joint explanation was perhaps, what was it, 3 years ago? He glanced at Shade and noted from her lack of reaction that she had no idea what they were talking about.

It really wouldn't be nice of him to let Shade feel a bit dumb for not knowing. As his arm snaked around her back, clutching her snugly, he put his other hand on his hip and spoke in a rather pronounced tone.

"Wasn't that a name of the group you guys were part of a long time ago?"

The resulting silence was wrought with a tension bearing eye-staring contest between the 3 men, and Shade could only alternate her gaze between her man and his friends. She couldn't help but notice the subtle fluctuations in their eye war - Brandon's eyebrows furrowing, Mango trying to hide his surprised reaction, Stri's atypical aggressiveness in the question's followup. It was only then that she realized that some of the other passengers were watching the Cold War-esque exchange, and she knew she had to do something.

She clapped twice, and all 3 males looked at her, their spell of unspoken defiance shattered.

"Speaking of magic, are you guys going to the magic show in an hour and a half?"

Brandon chuckled like a little girl.

"Pfft magic shows. Those are way too gay for me to handle."

Mango simply raised an eyebrow in response to Brandon, and Stri interjected successfully for once.

"Shade's uncle Cooper is running the show, and from what I hear, he's worth every penny of the admission price. Would you guys be free for the next, let's say, 2 hours?"

Brandon simply shrugged while Mango responded with a sorrowful smile.

"I'd love to go, but I'll be busy until about right after the show ends. Sorry."

Stri stared expectantly at Brandon. The other male whispered in his ear, and Brandon sighed. He got up from his seat, and hung onto the horizontal pole rung above Stri's seat, close enough to talk in an indoor voice.

"On account of the fact that I owe back from when you came to my parties, I'll come with, but I'll be going off when we get there. I'll meet up with you guys though when the show starts. Is that cool?"

As Stri nodded, the bus made a particularily sharp turn, and Brandon subsequently landed on Stri's lap. The bearded man was visibly despaired, and Brandon sighed.

"I take it back I'm probably gonna stay with you guys for a bit longer than I expected."

While Strieter was trying to come up with the right words to politely phrase a really offensive 4 word phrase, Brandon lightly punched Shade on the shoulder to get her attention.

"About earlier...it's actually an acronym, but I'll tell you about it later. Too many people here."

A minute of awkwardness passed rather slowly, and when Mango left for his stop, Brandon took his seat, sprawling over the length of it, and making Shade laugh at his nonconformity. It was rather suddenly that he leaned forward, and pitched a curveball that the couple hadn't anticipated.

"Stri, you remember Daisy?"

Stri merely blinked.

"Of course. Is she here?"

Brandon sighed like a man ready to accept his fate.

"Both sisters are here actually."

Stri also sighed, and Shade caught on to his apparent lack of enthusiasm. This was obviously a reaction based off a long history, and as she didn't know jack about their history, she did the simplest thing she could've done - ask.

"It sounds to me as if it's bad to have them around, or did you mean something else?"

Stri crossed his legs, and began by pointing at the teenager across the aisle.

"From what I remember, he tried to date Slim and things went really bad, and the twins were perpetually mad at him. Hopefully it died down by now-"

"Wait, they're _twins_?"

Brandon grinned. "Daisy's the older one. When we just did..._stuff_, she did some extreme martial arts training, like kung fu and all that. I'm pretty sure Daisy could KO any and all of us if she wanted to. She can be scary."

Stri crossed his arms, still passively glaring at Brandon, and continued where he left off.

"Slim is the younger twin, and she's generally a nice person to be around. If I remember, she's passionate about creaing crude portable devices that can manipulate electricity - or that's what I remember her doing back then. I think it started with a science fair project that she loved, and she's done all sorts of things since."

He sheepishly smiled.

"I'm certain she's still in the electrical field, but if it's otherwise, you better not be _shocked_."

Shade laughed in tune with Brandon's groan.

"Yo, Stri - Slim works part-time at the Shadow Arena, and Daisy's said she was gonna be there looking for someone."

Shade let her chin rest on her fist as she made another query.

"Is she mad at someone?"

Stri tilted his head in thought, and Brandon shook his head.

"Probably not, but you know she doesn't look for specific people unless she's mad at them, right?"

Both men nodded in tacit agreement, and the moment was interrupted by the bus coming to a stop. Stri looked past his shoulder and noticed that they'd arrived at the place.

They had finally reached the Shadow Arena.

The three passengers hopped off the bus, and observed the location. The Shadow Arena was originally built to be a large scale haunted house facility, but over time it somehow became an event hall that was home to many regional events, and Shade's uncle for the third time. Although the exterior carried an eerie ambience, courtesy of the building's original intent, the inside was spacious and inviting, just like an IKEA. Many people hung out in the Arena, and overall, it was a very popular place to be.

Shade grabbed Stri's arm and started to drag him along, and Brandon shoved his hands in his pocket. Welp, they were here. As soon as they entered the facility though , Brandon broke off, as promised, and left them to their own wandering.

In the meanwhile, the couple wandered about the Arena's promotional exhibit for Cooper the Great. Shade was quick to point out her uncle's feats and the inspirations and such behind them, and Stri took pictures with his camera because everything was just awesome. As the two meandered from the original exhibit and strayed onto other exhibit areas, they began doing goofy things not worth mentioning as they don't contribute to the plot, and other things a couple with a moderate level of PDA would do.

Shade caught up to Stri looking at a particular photo of the magician standing on a platform above a cheering crowd. The picture interested him a lot, as to how a magician could look so smug on stage, and to what extent he could make them cheer. Perhaps it was due to the success of the show, but the line "Cooper the Great can command his crowd to amazement with his magic" definitely stood out to him on the corresponding display tag.

The noisy environment seemed to blur its sounds together to an almost quiet standstill and other visitors disappeared from Stri's peripheral vision as he started mulling over the line. In his mind, it was just him and this picture which really bothered him, and something was telling him that there was a connection to something the magic he'd witnessed years back.

Years back, Brandon and Mango had exhibited strange talents similar to Shade's, and had become lifetime members of an organization called M.A.G.I.C by invitation. Of what the acronym stood for, he had no clue, but he felt that this sentence was important to what Shade's situation. It kept bothering him, but he had a very strong feeling that something in the sentence linked directly to what the acronym meant.

He took a step back and crossed his arms, mentally reviewing every word of the sentence, when he thought he had it figured out. M.A.G.I.C was a place where Brandon and Mango learned to control their abilities. This magician was essentially controlling the audience, as the poster claimed, 'with magic'; the parallel wasn't very solid, but it was very blatant, and Stri couldn't ignore it. Was it possible that Cooper was actually part of this group too...?

The thought was aborted as someone's hand clamped down on his shoulder.

Peripheral vision showed that Shade was on his left, and he looked to his right to see the trespasser face to muffled face. Of course, the muffler did its part to hide the lower half of his face, but this stranger's blue eyes hooked onto Stri's own and didn't look elsewhere.

"You asked about magic on the bus, right?"

Stri's mouth opened in surprise. First the park, then the bus. He instinctively reached out for Shade with his unoccupied hand and slightly squinted. This guy was a creep, but he certainly looked like he had answers.

"Yeah. Would you like to share your knowledge with me?"

The stranger stepped back and took a much more relaxed stance. He glanced around to gauge whether people were paying attention, and took off his jacket. He held it over what seemed like an invisible chair, and whipped it away to reveal the materialized stool underneath.

Stri was impressed, but tried not to show it as on the other hand, Shade started clapping. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets as the stranger took a seat.

"It's an acronym. M.A.G.I.C, as it's called, is more or less a supernatural ability that only handful of people are inherently born with. Their respective ability blooms between childhood and adulthood, and such people often learn to manipulate their abilities in a completely safe and disguisable manner. There have been some that try to abuse their power, and they will be-"

Shade thumbed herself.

"Do you have an ability, Mr...?"

Those surprised azure eyes lost all of their seriousness, and he laughed while gently tugging the edge of his muffler.

"Looker. That's my code name, of course. And yes, I do, much like your light problem."

Now Stri began to worry. Were they that loud on the bus? Either way, Shade was way too into the conversation to have second thoughts.

"My light problem- wait, you have the exact light ability?"

Looker shook his head, and gestured to her.

"That's an ability exclusive to you - you and only you will ever have that ability. Every user, every person with an ability, has their very own special power, like how every kid has their own teddy bear to sleep with."

Stri took a step forward, finally demonstrating his rarely seen accusing posture.

"And you're saying only the chosen few get these super powers?"

Looker glanced back to Stri, and kept staring at him as he took off one of his gloves.

"Well, yes. However, I came here for two reasons, the first was to transfer an ability to you, as you'll need it in the time to come."

Again, Looker extended his now bare hand towards Strieter. The bearded man frowned in response, and took a half-step back. _In the time to come? _That sounded awfully wrong, and somewhat dangerous, and for good reason, he didn't reach out for Looker's open offer. As Stri kept disapprovingly staring at it, the dark clad man laughed.

"Come on, an amazing ability you can call your own! I know it sounds weird, but I promise you, nothing bad's gonna happen. After all, this is for your own good."

Strieter's facial expression wavered as he started to mentally play devil's advocate on the situation at hand. A single sweat bead descended from his temple as he was stuck vacillating on the offer of power. And to be honest, he didn't know what to do. This was shady and all, but on the other hand, he would be able to get a power of his own, _for free_, as he understood it. But would there be responsibilities? Risks? There was just too much to worry about, and one mistake now could mean-

His attention turned to Shade, as she had just touched him. She bent him sideways a bit, and whispered in his ear.

"Go for it. I'll be with you all the way."

Stri begrudgingly extended his own and gave Looker a firm handshake. For a second, he felt nothing, and then he felt it - a sluggish warmth spreading from the contact, traveling up his arm and slowly spreading to the rest of his body. He was alarmed, but the other man didn't let go of his hand as the warmth continued its advance. And so, they stood still for about a minute, that is, until the warmth had fully encompassed him and suddenly faded away.

Looker released his hand, and Sti cautiously looked at his own. Nothing seemed to have changed, but for some reason, he felt empowered. Maybe it was a placebo effect of somesort? He incredulously returned his gaze back to the stranger, implicitly prompting him to speak.

The muffled man gestured towards his own stool.

"Try to materalize this stool in your imagination, let's say 5 feet in front of you. That should work."

Stri took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. It had to do with imagination, right? Well, it wasn't that hard, as he just imagined it, and as he was still shut-eyed, he heard Shade's gasp, and he consequently opened his own eyes to see a brand new stool sitting where he had just imagined it.

Stri admired his handiwork, and as Shade sat on it, Looker smiled under the scarf.

"Well, it appears that there is a balance between our powers now. That won't last for long though."

The couple stared at him, probably unsure of what he meant. Stri broke the momentarily silence with hesitant laughter.

"I think it's funny that that sounds like a statement that characters in novels say before things get serious."

Looker's face sans the lower half became serious, and Stri felt the change in pressure. Something was probably gonna happen because he decided to be a smartass and pretend to foreshadow. Or did he actually spell out the actions to come?

Stri squinted, and instinctively put an arm out to guard his partner, all the while staring down the other man. The staring contest was legitimate, and both men silently kept trying to kill each other with looks, until Looker scratched his head, and sighed.

"Your ability is called _Resupply_, where you can recreate any magic tool, prop or device you've ever seen and use them for your own sake, as I understand. I haven't explored its limits, but that's a fairly amazing power you should definitely explore."

Stri held out 2 fingers, and inquired rather forcefully, suddenly afraid of what his answer might be.

"You came here for two reasons. One was to give me this - this power. What else are you here for?"

Looker crossed his hands, and responded in a rather smug tone.

"I said I came here to see Cooper the Great, right?"

Shade's cheerful disposition gave way to silent apprehension as the muffled man continued to speak sinisterly.

"To be more precise, I've come here to see him _dead._"

After a moment to digest those words, Stri got angry and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth to hopefully shake some sense in the guy.

"Are you nuts? That's not gonna happen, and even if, somehow if, you're not gonna get away with everyone around here."

Shade's frown deepened, as she poked Looker in the chest.

"Who do you think you are, trying to kill my uncle? If he can survive 3 years on the road, he'll be fine against you, hallucinating all over the place."

His gloved hand gently her finger, and took it off his chest. Looker sighed and crossed his arms, still a bit disappointed in the reaction he recieved. He swiftly pointed towards the hall, and as the couple turned, they saw someone walk in...only that someone was literally identical to the Looker standing in front of them.

"Now, watch this."

The Looker that was just talking to them moments ago was suddenly stabbed by the newcomer, and both Stri and Shade fearfully took a couple steps newcomer laughed in the same tone as Looker and snapped with his fingers; the Looker underneath faded away, and after a moment, nothing remained to even show that he was there. The remaining Looker tightened his muffler, and rolled his eyes.

"Do I really have to explain it to you?"

Stri found himself responding affirmatively, and the dark clad man sighed.

"It's called _Carbon Copy_. I shouldn't have to explain it anymore. Use your imagination, sheesh."

He flipped his butterfly knife, and started to flip it around, and deftly lodged it back in his jacket. The man straightened his clothing, and pulled his muffler around once more, before glancing at the couple with those now sinister-themed blue eyes. The outline of his mouth was barely visible through the scarf, but Stri could now put almost a complete face to that voice, and he paled as he heard Looker speak once more.

"Your uncle should be in the backstage set, room 4, right? When I get back, I'll tell you your uncle's last words. Later Shade!"

And with that, the villain smiled and vanished into thin air.


	3. Chapter 2: Lights Out

Chapter Two:

There were many things that Shade could easily label Looker as, and a few choice description such as amicable and unfashionable came to mind. However, was she going to stand around until they could add murderer to her list?

To quote Hamlet Act 3, Scene 3, line 87 - "No"

Of course Shade didn't know that she was quoting Shakespeare, but it was what she muttered under her breath as she slowly buried her face in her arms. This stranger, Looker, had played them all along with his friendly act, and distracted them enough to get a head start on her uncle. Her eyes clouded up at the now very likely possibility that they'd get to his room too late. Her mind occupied with the single thought, she leaned on her partner and quietly teared up.

Strieter held Shade gently, and rubbed her side, his eyes still focused on where Looker was last, fists now clenched. Normally, he'd freeze up in his usual happy-go-lucky state, but not now. Not freaking now. He gritted his teeth, mentally jump-starting his psyche, and tried his best to focus on the next logical action.

They had to stop Looker. But how? He could just disappear in their faces, and they wouldn't know where to find him.

No - they did.

Shade gave a short yelp of surprise as Stri grabbed her hand and ran down the hall. The two tore through a long stretch, and Shade almost flew as Stri turned sharply on his heels, arriving in front of a map kiosk. He took a moment to identify Cooper's backstage dressing room as where he'd most likely be at that moment, and raced off with Shade.

As Shade's ability was still unmastered, and Stri's still fresh off the boat, he wasn't very confident of stopping the villain with their own power. However, there were still friends that could help, that knew how to deal with the enemy on his own terms.

Stri whipped out his phone and held it up to his ear, still maintaining the same speed as before. Shade was surprised at the fact that she wasn't able to see how fast he dialed, but she was a tiny bit relieved when he started talking again.

"Daisy, it's me. Get Brandon and meet me at the magician's dressing room. Sure. Just tell Brandon that we're dealing with magic and that it's a bad guy...yes I said bad guy. Please, I need your help."

He didn't even bother putting his phone back in his pocket as they skidded past a hallway, and had to backtrack to take the right hallway. It was dark, but Shade threw her hands at the lights, and they lit the entire hallway perfectly. Stri didn't have to look at the map to determine that they were right near the room, and gradually came to a stop at the end of the hall.

Shade opened her mouth to inquire, but one look and a couple of code hand gestures from Strieter answered her question perfectly. The girl nodded, and took the lead, very gradually peeking from the side of the door in order to see what was going on in the dressing room.

Her eyes widened as she witnessed her uncle signing an autograph for Looker, both participants casually laughing. She herself was taken aback by this sudden switch of personality. This was the man who had just disappeared in front of them and stated that he was going to kill her uncle, right? Her stomach did a somersault as she couldn't help but accept the fact that the signature was maybe a distraction.

Acting on her own impulses, she discreetly dashed over to hide behind a cabinet in the room. This put her within listening distance, and she stilled herself, determined to hear the two out. She again stuck her head out to see the scene for herself, namely her uncle's laughter dying down, and Looker tightening his muffler around his face.

"My, you have quite a flair for stories, young man~".

"Actually, before I go, I wanted to tell you another story. It's not funny, but it's worth hearing."

"Tell away, my dear~"

Looker had a glint in his eyes, and Shade looked on in apprehensive suspicion.

"It's actually one my sister told me, about a group of magicians that traveled through Europe and Asia in search of a legendary power. Maybe you've heard of this one before?"

Shade blinked in surprise. Her uncle kept on smiling and twirling his mustache, but his fleeting, instantaneous look of fear and sudden onset of sweat didn't escape her notice.

"Oho? Maybe I do, it sounds very interesting altogeth-~"

The young man's hands flew to Cooper's shirt, and he slammed the elder up against the wall, breathing heavily as the portly magician started squirming and trying to flail his arms to break the hold. Shade withdrew the pen she always carried and crouched - the muffled man wasn't choking her uncle, but pinning him wasn't acceptable either.

"Your niece is in this room, and I'll wait until she's ready to hear it before I say."

She dropped the pen in astonishment. How did he-?

"Get over here, miss. This story is for you both."

Found out, she stood up and made her way to her uncle's side, who was still at the villain's mercy. Looker sighed, and angrily glanced back at the elder magician.

"This is the story of how thieves and pillagers came to my city and defiled our sacred hot spot - a story of how a band of magicians murdered my friends and neighbors in search of the legendary ability _Vitality_. But of course, of all people, you should know this one, right? After all, you were the one that led them. "

The pinned man gulped uncomfortably, and Shade's expression was a hybrid of surprise and curiosity as she looked at her uncle's frightened face. _Did he really kill people for magic? _Her uncle aside, she herself was caught off guard when she noticed Looker blinking rapidly, trying to conceal the fact that he was tearing up.

"_Vitality_ is an ability that grants almost unheard of capabilities and additional enhancements to a user's power, and for centuries we've kept them hidden from everyone for their own good. We kept it hidden from people especially like you, who used your ability to sway the populace to your favor and murder my family for not divulging the secrets of this power to the likes of you. You're the reason we kept _Vitality_ out of sight for years. How dare you."

Those quivering hands became still and released the collar within their grasp, letting Cooper fall to the ground. Looker quickly wiped his tears with the free end of his scarf, and glared at the older magician, awaiting some form of a response. The man himself was visibly distressed, and took a moment to compose himself before speaking.

"My boy, it was a terrible thing to do, and in hindsight, I would gladly do anything and everything to stop myself back then. It was a pointless search, and I'm really sorry for-"

Looker took a step forward and crushed the man's fingers with his heel, those azure eyes still burning with fury. He stuck one hand into his jacket, and with a smooth rolling movement, extended a collapsible estoc.

"I didn't haul my ass over here to get an apology from you; I came for your head. I came to make an example out of you, and to show the world what happens to anyone that commits sacrilege of the likes that you and your hired guns committed."

Shade couldn't take it any further, and she instinctively took a step with the aim of defending her uncle, but as soon as she moved, Looker glanced at her and someone instantaneously held her from behind. Whoever it was had a pretty solid grip, and she could only watch as the villain casually took a few steps towards the pleading man, dragging his estoc on the linoleum.

Her uncle's eyes met Looker's, and he clasped his hands together as a sign of clemency.

"Surely you could show a bit of mercy for me, an old man with a bad past~"

Looker's scarf almost flew off as the his face contorted in rage.

"Where was the mercy that you were supposed to show _to my family? _We took you all in on the first night here, and helped you out when you had no way around. _Where was the mercy my parents were expecting _when you used your ability to get our friends and kin_ to murder my parents? Answer me!"_

The room fell silent as Shade began to realize that there was no turning back now. She clenched her fists as she stood in her place, angrily cursing out fate. It appeared to be true that her uncle had done horrible things to innocent people, and Looker would definitely be able to overpower her if she stood up for her uncle, maybe kill her too. But, her uncle was her uncle, and she'd stand by him, even if all she could do was talk back from her current position.

"Hey...Looker, do you really think vengeance will really solve anything here? Uncle Cooper's sorry from his heart. Just stop this already, please..."

He sighed and tossed the free edge of his muffler over his right shoulder. With another swift movement, the estoc was suddenly positioned at Cooper's chin, and his hand slightly bent so that the blade hovered over his heart. Looker glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"From the heart, you said? Dear, I hate to break it to you, but your uncle and his other allies have always been this way. They started off this way, and they're never going to recant, even if that very same power they killed for has come back for them."

The blade quivered as his hand became a bit unsteady, and he let the tip of the estoc rest on Cooper's chest. With every sentence he finished, he pushed the tip against his chest for effect.

"There were five others along with you that came to my city, and there is nothing that will stop me from carrying out my duty. Every one of you rascals had an alias, and it took a while for me to get your names, I'll give you that. Those of you that are gone, and the rest of you that still live will all face retribution at my hands, in lieu of those that you -."

A drop of sweat landed in the fallen man's eye, and he reflexively tried to flush it out while Looker's blade still applied pressure over his heart. The muffled man muttered something under his breath, and threw Cooper a napkin from his pocket. Shade was furthermore stunned by this sudden break, and only raised a brow in response at this seemingly out of place act of kindness, though Looker reacted as if nothing had happened and continued.

"There were five of you that I took notice of, and it appears that you're the weakest of them all, _Kevin Faber_. If we're talking code names, then I can say for a fact that Ryu faced his retribution in Brunei, and Captain L.J. met his in Halifax. Your comrades-oh shit-"

In that instant, Shade could only gasp in shock as she saw Looker accidentally stumble over her uncle, the estoc subsequently being driven in by his forward motion. It was a hell of a fall, and she just stood there watching the two men untangle themselves with choice expletives being uttered every few seconds. After a couple of seconds, Shade felt second-hand embarrassment at the whole incident, and pulled Looker off her uncle. Her embarrassment suddenly gave way to horror as she saw her uncle trying to pull out the estoc that had gone completely through him.

_No, this can't be happening, _Shade thought. _Please don't die Uncle Cooper. Please._

Looker stopped amidst brushing the dust off himself and stared dumbfoundedly at the waning magician. He facepalmed and expressed his multitude of feelings with one comprehensive word.

"_Shit._"

He walked up towards Cooper and knelt down, his blue eyes meeting the elder man's own, and cleared his throat.

"Mr. Faber, in my parents' final moments, they tried to tell me to forgive you all for your ignorance. I now see that it's not ignorance, but your headstrong lust for power that led you on. With this, I forgive you, and I wish you find my parents over there, and perhaps, maybe find what you were looking for."

Despite the tearing, Cooper's eyes followed the muffled man's figure as it rose and slowly walked away, before abruptly stopping and looking back - to him apparently. He felt something on his right arm and glanced over to see Shade still in shock, her hands clasped onto his. At Looker's voice, they both turned their hands.

"Faber, what message should I convey to your remaining partners in crime?"

Shade's face grew dark, and her hand started to become limp. Cooper noticed the decrease in pressure, and squeezed her hand to gain her attention, and braved a smile at her faltering expression. He reached into his coat pocket with his other hand, and took out a diary, placing it on Shade's lap before speaking to the villain once more.

"Boy, I'm thankful for the life I lived. I may not have been a perfect soul, but I know that we always have the chance to repent, though at a cost. If this is my path to repentance, then so be it. I had a well-defined goal that kept me going forward through the years, through the thick and thin. You two better make sure you know what yours are."

His breathing slowed down considerably, and Shade's cheek became wet with tears as she suddenly had to accept what was happening. She lowered her head with the intention of shading her tears from her uncle, but his fingers tenderly shifted her pink hair to the sides as she looked up at her uncle, still smiling in the face of death, struggling to get one last line in.

"It's a shame I never met your man. Maybe it's fate. It's up to you to decide."

His hand rolled over and his eyes closed, the last thing he ever saw was Shade's pleading expression. Nothing anybody could do about it now, unfortunately, and he passed without another word.

Shade turned her head and glared towards Looker, her hand at the ready. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he sighed.

"Please don't fuse the lights here - it'll be a much bigger mess to clean up.

The tension in the room was too intense as Shade wiped away her tears, her lips curling into what looked like a snarl, while Looked skywards with a look of resignation on his face. The moment was suddenly interrupted as an explosion went off behind him, and both Looker and Shade attempted to protect their eyes from the ensuing smoke.

Looker mentally berated himself for not expecting company, and became painfully aware of another hostile presence as the smoke itself began to form shapes and hammer into him, taking advantage of its cloudy nature to limit his vision. He tried blocking some attacks with his hands, but the smoke struck in other unprotected regions, and the villain ended up stumbling back to Shade's position.

Shade was a bit fazed at the noises inside the smoke, and Looker being pushed back. _Was it yet another murderer? _She clenched her teeth and stood up, ready to stand her ground if these new intruders attacked her. Her guard dropped when she heard Stri's voice faintly murmur something in the distance, and she gave up fighting when in one instant, the smoke parted in half to create a path down the middle.

Strieter was back.

Well, then there were two other girls that Shade didn't know, and Brandon, who cracked his knuckles as he strode across the room and stood halfway along his smoke-free path.

"Looker, yeah? Why worry about a mess when it's gonna be lights out for you?"

The scarf still covered the lower half of his face, but the faint outline of his grin was visible as Looker stood up. Both men squared up against each other with nearly lethal glares and taunting smiles.

"So you cosplay ToonTown huh? Didn't realize people still liked that stuff."

"Make like a bystander in a robbery and leave while you can."

Those previously mocking faces became serious as both men lowered their postures and tightened their fists. Shade gasped in realization as she realized what was about to transpire, as she observed both men suddenly lunge toward the other, one fist rearing and the other aimed for their opponents' head.

Everything was all in slow motion for Shade as she started to yell Brandon's name in support, while the two men got closer and closer, ready for the moment of impact.

It was clear to her that Brandon could fight, but the bigger question remained -

could he win against Looker?


	4. Chapter 3: Smokin' Hot

Chapter 3:

The look each carried into battle was the same, the eagerness in Looker's eyes mirrored by the valiance in Brandon's. There was no stopping now, as both men were on the move, and it was a simple fist or bust in this one strike duel. All eyes were on the two combatants as they closed the gap, ready to dish out damage to the other first.

It was then that Looker simultaneously faded from his current position and reappeared right in front of Brandon. Stri and Shade watched on in surprise from opposite sides of the hall as the villain sent Brandon flying backwards with a roundhouse kick. The challenger was determined to stay in the fight, and without skipping a beat executed a backflip and slid into a tripoint landing between the two sisters.

As Looker took out his estoc and extended the blade, Brandon scowled and glanced at Daisy and Slim before coming up with a plan.

"Slim, you up for this guy? I can't do this alone. Daisy, can you-?"

But she was already gone, dashing for the opposite side of the room, her progress marked by only the silhoutte she left in the smoke as she ran through it. Brandon rotated his hands around each other, consequently surrounding Looker in denser smoke as the other woman went forward. It worked, and the muffled man attempted to cut through the smoke before giving up and waiting for it to dissapate.

From Shade's viewpoint, nothing was distinguishable. Well, except for the approaching dark shadow within the fringes of the cloud, and if that was Looker, she was definitely going to bust him up. It wasn't Looker, but Daisy who burst through, gave Shade a quick lookover and grabbed her hand, immediately heading back the way she came from. The pink-haired girl had so many questions, but decided on making her priority the task of getting back safely through the smoke.

"Gosh Brandon, lettin' the ladies do all the dirty work. Step your game up already."

Back on Brandon's right, the brunette displayed mock annoyance as she held her katana out, looking for any scraches on what she deemed her ultimate masterpiece. The tilt of her blade produced a momentary glint that made him squint as he rose up, a squint that transferred its focus from Slim to the villain who had finally ceased fighting against the smoke. If his inability to fight formless elements infuriated him, then that certainly would weigh him down during the fight, and Brandon grinned as he cleared a path in the smoke that led from them all the way to Looker's obscured haze.

"Slim, we're in the middle of a fight. Can you hold the sass for later?"

Both turned their gazes to the sudden appearance of Daisy and Shade as they burst through the smoke, Shade immediately hugging her boyfriend while Daisy glanced back at the smoke before stepping back.

"Brandon, I can't fight with all this smoke."

Brandon razzled his peer.

"It's a good thing that _we _can."

On that note, both Brandon and Slim charged right down the clear path, the smoke dissapating around Looker for him to finally see his opponents strike him down. But what Brandon imagined was very different from what they were about to face.

Looker drew his estoc and spun around in a circle a couple of times to create a decently sized smoke-free area centered around him. Hardly fazed by the faster challenger's step, he took one back and easily blocked her katana's upwards slash. Those azure eyes found it rather easy to trace Slim's motions, and he kept backstepping with grace and defending against her successive parries. It wasn't that he was spectacular at the estoc, but both fighters could tell that his blocking strength was waning, and that he was bound to lose his grip.

Irked by the thought, Looker put weight on his better foot and charged with a few strikes of his own. His advance was halted when Slim resorted to a spinning manuever to defend his multiple strikes. However, the katana's hilt got ledged in between the gaps of the estoc's own, as Looker had intended, and the two stood still, clutching their weapons and breathing hard in the momentary peace.

Momentary was the keyword, and as quickly as Looker pulled his blade free, he knelt to the ground and spun his foot around, knocking her off her feet and her blade out of her grasp, his eyes tracing the katana's fall to the ground. The sound of steel on hard floor created a sharp ringing sound that made him cringe a little, and he looked back to Slim, who was sprawled on the floor, glaring at him as she tried to recover from the brunt of her blow.

At the sight of his fallen friend, the other challenger's grin fell into a growl as he clenched his fists, and threw his elbows backwards, letting smoke swirl around his fists as vented his anger at the other.

"I know what you're thinking, and I won't let you do that."

Brandon took a step forward and excuted a left cross, letting the smoke branch out from his fist to strike the villain on his side. Looker staggered, his shoulder reeling in pain from the hit, and he had to acknowledge his attacker's prowess as he was hit again on his right side. His eyes widened at the sudden realization that the third hit would be the traditional uppercut, and he threw himself into a back-flip to dodge Brandon's killer move, saving himself amazingly in time.

The save was for naught as Brandon moved his fists around in a circular manner, catching Looker's feet with the smoke that hovered above the floor, and launched him upwards. The throw itself was disorienting, and between rotations, he was able to make out Brandon making another cyclic motion with his hands. After noticing that nothing rose from the ground, he became alarmed and glanced upwards, and there it was - a rather large column of smoke that was poised to fall on him. Looker squinted at the crushing block, and perked his ears as he heard Brandon's voice.

"If this were anime, I guess I'd be telling you about my moves right about now. I hate to disappoint, but this ain't anime."

The airborne man had oriented himself upside down and was able to alight on the smoke column. Given that he was going to fall however he looked at the situation, he bounced right off the block and directed his descent right at Brandon. The muffler was waving everywhere, and as Looker grabbed the loose ends to wrap around his face, his eyes met the challenger's own widening eyes.

"Anime or not, today is _not _the day I lose."

All it took was an instant, and the fight culminated with Looker completely decking his opponent from the air. At first glance, Looker appeared to be relatively unharmed and upright, which defied how he should have been messed up after a vertical dive like that, but Brandon groaned as he understood. This opponent of his had a pragmatic ability that wasn't simply for show, and he had come to that conclusion a kick too late. Well, at least he wasn't going to die or anything.

A crackling noise had stolen his attention away from Brandon, and Looker turned to see the woman approaching, wielding her sparking katana with both hands and slowly closing the distance between them. She broke into a quick sprint and upon reaching Looker's position, sliced upwards with her blade's electrocution mode. He had seen it coming, and dodged in time, though his muffler wasn't so fortunate and ended up a few inches shorter on the right end. His brows shot up as the shorn scarf end registered in his head, only to come back down as his eyes reflected his anger at the close call.

A couple of steps backwards created the distance he so desperately needed and a plan of action. With an electrical blade, his steel estoc was going to result in a Pyrrhic victory, and so he cast it aside as he sidestepped the next attack, his azure eyes never leaving his target. Again and again, Slim lunged and swung at him, and again and again, Looker somehow avoided the blade to only get closer to her. The vigilance paid off as he found himself a foot away from the attacker, and as she tried to jab with her blade once more, he knelt down directly under her offensive arm and grabbed her around her waist with his outstretched right arm. Sure, it was crude, but he had to disable her, and if that meant sweeping her off her feet and letting her fall on his outstretched knee, then so be it.

Even after the maneuver, the weapon was still within her grasp, and Looker instinctively grabbed her hand. All it took was a little hand wrestling and twisting, and he pried the blade from her hand. It was surprisingly lighter than what he expected it to be, given the size of the blade, but what mattered more was the fact that the blade had a lethal electrical component. He furrowed his brows as he looked the blade over, and dropped it on the floor, only to rest his boot on the weapon.

Slim groaned as she berated herself for literally falling for the same trick twice, and froze as she heard the clink of boot on blade. When she turned her head to see the villain, she slowly relaxed and casually spoke out.

"If you're gonna try to break the sword, you're gonna end up breakin' your own foot first."

Looker raised an eyebrow as he came up with an interesting thought. Such an elegant weapon didn't deserve to be shattered, and so breaking the katana was out of the question. Putting it out of commission was a feasible route, one that required an entirely different level of strength. Furthermore, he had that strength, and he immediately hid his hands behind his back for a second, engaging his activation out of Slim's eyes.

After a moment, he ceased movement and glanced at the woman and her complacent expression, noting that she was leaning forward on her forearms in what appeared to be mock anticipation of his next move. Well, if it was a show she was expecting, then he wasn't going to hold back and disappoint.

Looker closed his eyes and swung his hands forward into a clap, catching everyone's attention as he performed the motion. If that didn't seem obnoxious enough, he opened his eyes and crossed his arms as his eyes' hues changed from a sky blue to a darker shade of purple, reflecting an altogether different type of intensity that he seemed to embody with his stance. At the very least, there was no reason for anyone to be smug anymore.

Looker had just used the legendary ability _Vitality_.

Slim's eyes widened at the development, and she mentally started panicking as the villain held up the blade and inspected it, passing his finger slowly over the flat side and pausing at certain locations. Sure, her blade had a megacapacitor and other elements within its core, but it just wasn't possible that this guy could find-

She blinked out of her thoughts when she heard a large cracking sound in close proximity, and she looked up. The guy had pinched the blade at a particular location, and broke though the metal entirely, clutching on to a consequently flattened transformer as he wiped away the itty bitty specks of metal off his finger. Slim's jaw dropped, and she was unable to believe what she was seeing. Was this guy for real?

As if to answer her questions, he moved his hand further down the edge of the blade, and made a few more holes in the blade, pulling out crushed capacitors and resistors out of the established circuitry. With every puncture, Slim felt herself die a little bit, and when the villain's fingers reached the megacapacitor, she extended her hand in protest, and cried out-

"I give, you win. Just don't break that last bit please."

Again he raised an eyebrow. A plea from an extremely pugnacious individual who had modified a weapon to such a potent one-hit killing machine? He sighed and smashed through the final circuit element, causing a tiny explosion and a corresponding cloud of sparks upon destruction. He wiped his gloves on his blazer before turning his attention to the crestfallen figure near him, and kneeling down next to her.

"Killing people isn't right, and nothing will ever change that fact. Don't wire something like this again, or..."

A loud 'pop' sound interrupted his words, and Looker broke off as he noticed the stool falling directly above them. With a swift motion, he swung the katana upwards and held it directly vertical as the wooden stool implanted itself on the weapon. After a second, he waved the sword around in a circle until the stool dislodged itself and rolled away on the ground. He squinted as he deduced who the culprit was, and glanced over at Strieter, who appeared to be second guessing the usefulness of his actions.

"Oh my - I'm so sorry."

"Stri you noob - why would you even apologize to him?"

Brandon kept his same pissed attitude as Daisy helped him up, unable to believe the timing of his friend's attack. It was one thing to have an ability, but fighting was an entirely different component of the job that noobs like him simply couldn't conjure at a moment's notice. Still, he tried, and for someone as green as him, Stri was doing aveage.

The muffled man gently lay the katana and its pieces next to its owner and helped her sit up; at the very least, he could do that. His attention fell upon the approaching woman, the one who had just aided Brandon, who appeared to be weaponless and completely serious.

"...or what?"

With a casual expression, he stood up and squared off against Daisy. There was a question to be answered, but as much as he wanted to give a different form of an answer, he sighed and gestured to Slim.

"Killing people will slowly but surely kill your soul, and ultimately, you. Is that not a fair warning to give?"

Daisy pressed on with her fierce intensity.

"And what about you?"

Looker adopted a serious tone of his own.

"I lost everything when my family was killed and my locale plundered. I believe that ridding the world of these scoundrels before they cause another tragedy should be an adequate reason for me to continue."

She took a step forward and crossed her arms.

"If you're looking for redemption, you should fall to me."

The blue-haired man tilted his head and grinned underneath his muffler.

"Is that a challenge?"

Silence. Those violet eyes sought an answer, and he found it within Daisy's own, all without a single word being said. It was the answer he would have preferred not to carry out, though it didn't look like he had much of a say. Looker cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms rather nonchalantly.

"Fine. I got 10 seconds."

Daisy instantaneously shot forward, arm outstretched for a quick jab to the face, except that Looker had vanished and simultaneously reappeared behind her. She mentally accepted his startling speed, and spun off her front foot to initiate a chain reverse hook kick. Her opponent ducked the first attack, and vanished to her side to catch her heel the second time around. He had stopped her rotational movement and broken her concentration, and she glared at his concealed face. Nobody had ever stopped her before, and furthermore, she was in a very tight spot. One wrong move, and it'd be over for her.

She planned to pull back her captured foot and jump reverse kick with her other foot, aiming to ending the stalemate in one go. What she didn't bank on was her opponent releasing her heel out of his own volition and practically teleporting behind her. In that moment she attempted to turn around, Looker wound back and hit her squarely in the back with a palm heel strike. It didn't hurt too much, but it did send her forwards a couple of meters as he probably had intended to do.

Looker observed Daisy transition into a front roll to avoid the inevitable tripping via skidding fall, and started clapping for his foe, and quickly glanced at the others in the hall.

"Good work, all of you, perhaps not all of you as Strieter seriously needs to work on his imagination. I'll check back on your skills the next time I see you all. Speaking of which-"

He instantly reappeared at Strieter's side and withdrew a letter from his jacket. The startled man couldn't help but accept the letter from him, and as he moved to open it, Looker caught his finger.

"Don't open gifts from people while they're still in front of you. Back to what I was saying, if you ever wish to cross paths with me, please take a look at this letter. If you inspect it, you'll know where to find me next time."

From his peripheral vision, he noticed Shade cautiously approaching him, and the muffled man turned to face her. Their eyes met, her teary glare to his weariness, and she pointed at him, muffled anger evident in her tone.

"Was my uncle that bad of a person? Was it so hard to forgive him for something he did in his past? Was it really worth the effort just to track down uncle Cooper and just, kill him like that? You just met him! How would you know how good or bad of a person he was? Who are you to make that call?"

At the sudden outburst, Looker's eyes changed back to their original azure colors, and his face grew dark. Her questions were valid, most of them were, but was it going to be beneficial to reveal the truth at this point in time?

Shade was suddenly surprised when he put his hand on her shoulder, and gave her an encouraging squeeze. Given the situation and their heights, it looked awkward, but he retained eye contact with her and spoke in a low voice.

"I met your uncle a long time ago. It's a long story, but I'm not doing this because I want to. If you want to hate me and blame everything on me, I won't stop you from doing so. However, I strongly advise taking a look at the letter if you want to take a step in the right direction."

The moment of understanding was quickly ruined when a pair of voices were heard yelling in the connecting hallway. Looker turned and ran the other direction, past an unfazed Daisy and a pooped Brandon, to where Slim was, and grabbed his estoc. With one final turn, he did a humble bow, and faded away as he stood back up again.

The sudden influx of noise turned everyone's attention to the entrance, where a bartender and a man in a jumpsuit passed through, and stopped upon seeing Strieter and Shade. The taller bartender glanced at all five present before winking at Brandon and pointing at him.

"There you are, Mr. Moose, so glad you called. That moron dropped us off at the wrong end of this place, and we're sorry about that, bruh."

Brandon's gaze fell upon the shorter man, still taking a breather from presumably running the entire length of the Arena. He gritted his teeth, and gestured to the far side of the hall.

"You faggots couldn't get here any sooner? Shade's uncle is dead now, and the user responsible just got away."

The bartender shook his head, and made his way to Brandon and Slim, whereas the jumpsuiter took out a couple of napkins and handed it to Stri, who wiped away his girlfriend's tears. He grabbed Strieter's hand and shook it too wildly for it to even count as a handshake, and spoke way too fast to keep up with.

"Name's Evan. Codename Infernal. Terribly sorry about your loss, but we're gonna' take you guys back to headquarters and resolve things there, if that's-"

Strieter grasped his hand firmly and stopped the wild movement.

"Headquarters?"

The bartender laughed in his deep voice and slapped Brandon on the back.

"Cron what the hell."

"Take it easy, big man. We're taking y'all to headquarters. Nothing to worry about now, folks."

Shade turned to the bartender.

"What do you mean, nothing to worry about?"

Cron grinned.

"The Director _is in._"


	5. Chapter 4: Carbon Copy

In hindsight, Strieter didn't really know what he was expecting.

The sudden gleam in Daisy's eyes, along with Infernal's smirking and Brandon's look of horror, did surprise him, at the very least. The reaction combination play was one he'd never seen or even imagined before, and he presumed that the three-way action was the product of something Brandon had royally screwed up at some point. Why else would he get agitated at the mention of this Director?

"Oh _hell no._"

The teenager swatted away the helping hand and clambered onto his feet, his defiant expresion confirming Strieter's own conclusion. Both Stri and Shade raised their eyebrows at the sight, and the bartender extended his hand only to get slapped away the second time. Whoever the Director was, Brandon didn't really want to face him.

The jumpsuited man tried to say something, but Brandon whipped around to face him, effectively interrupting what was likely a mollifing message.

"I dunno' where 'Catty is, but I'm not going with any of you."

Infernal's pleading gaze met Brandon's own glare, and their tense standoff lasted for more than a moment whereas the others started cleaning up, Daisy to her sister, and Crontix to where Cooper lay. Strieter himself tapped Shade's shoulder to snap her out of it, and he handed her a napkin, which he figured was the right thing to do at that moment.

The silence was broken by a really bright flash that appeared behind the smug-looking jumpsuiter, and everyone's reaction was one - one that mostly involved shielding their eyes. Stri was particularily surprised and impressed by the silence that accompanied the flash, though he recovered as soon as the luminosity dimmed to reveal a man standing in its place, grinning right at Brandon.

Slim squinted.A person emerging from a light_ - _sounded like the textbook definition of an angel to her. But that was a person and not an angel. Or was she dead, and-

Deep laughter drew her attention over her shoulder, where the elder man was passing by, Shade's uncle hoisted on his back.

"Oh don't worry - 'Catty's no angel and neither is he an infiltrator either. He's our way out."

The sharply dressed man dropped his gleeful look as he snapped at Crontix.

"Please, don't ruin my first impression. Anyways, I'm running on a pretty tight schedule so let's move it people."

The bartender took a step next to Shade, subtly noticing her hand grasping her uncle's one last time, and nodded towards her as he faced MiCATsa.

"Dude, lose the attitude - Faber's niece just watched him die."

The light expired from the newcomer's face, and he shook his head in what looked like denial. The suited man positioned himself in front of Shade and Stri, and held their hands firmly. He didn't let go, and closed his eyes for a moment, and in that moment of concentration, everything became pandimonium as all were encased in a glowing light, Infernal tackled Brandon to prevent his escape, and someone shouted at the edge of the hall.

Strieter glanced over to the entrance, noticing that whoever had arrived was now shielding their eyes, and he looked back to his own hands. Apart from the glowing, it appeared that they were _shining _or something of that degree that made the bystander react. He couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty, and he sharply turned to loudly apologize to the bystander, and once again he was cut off-

-not by anybody, but by the teleportation as they became enveloped in an instantaneous burst of light and vanished along with it.

The man in the doorway lowered his hands and surveyed the now empty hall. Most of the room was untouched, though the fallen stool and the rather large bloodstain on the side of the wall were rather telling of what had transpired. But as the man's spreading grin indicated, he was very well aware of what happened.

He raised a hand and bunched all his fingers together in a flicking motion towards the nearest fire alarm. Almost instantaneously, the switched rotated upwards and the fire alarm subsequently began blaring. His goal achieved, the man quickly turned around and started walking away from the hall, smiling in relief as he ruffled his hair and stifled the momentary itching.

_Mamma mia - you're pretty good, Looker. Better than back in Brunei._

The man's smile became a menacing grin.

_With this, now they definitely know that we're here._

Teleportation wasn't really his ability, but to those 5 individuals that had just stood up to him, he could very well appear to do so. All he had to do was simply create a backup clone in another location and swap places with it to make his next move. But they wouldn't know any different, and their ignorance was his advantage.

It was right when he left the entrance that the fire alarm started ringing, and Looker looked at the building once more before taking off. As everyone typically exited a building after a fire alarm, he hurried as being seen was a risk that he was certainly not willing to take. However, the motorcycle that he'd arranged was within sight, parked at the edge of the parking lot. His pace spiked as he jogged the last few meters to the glistening purple vehicle.

It was a thing of beauty.

The man with blue hair bent down as if to tie his shoe, and instead lifted the rear tire just a smidge to pull out the key underneath. He wasn't taking chances, and speaking of, discreetly attached a bluetooth headset to his ear before putting on his helmet. With a fluid motion, he started the motorcycle's engine and pulled out of the lot, his scarf flapping every which way in the wind.

About half a mile down at a red light, his reciever picked up a call. Looker flipped up his visor and tapped his reciever active, casually pulling off a "Jim's Whore House here - you got the dough, we got the hoe" with the faintest outline of a smile on his face. As intended, the caller audibly did a double take and laughed uncontrollably before sobering up and speaking.

"How did the trip go?"

"You have a really good taste for bikes, I'll give you that."

"_Grazie, _I figured orange was too flashy for you, so purple it was."

Within the scarf-free helmet's interior, Looker's grin was visible for the first time.

"AK, is that your Italian side, or your Filipino side dictating your sense of fashion?"

Laughter ensued from the other end of the call.

"That would have to be my Filipino side. Looks didn't really matter much when I grew up in Milano, you see."

"I'd expect nothing less from my second in command. How was it when you got there?"

"They like teleported away or something, but it was very bright, so I couldn't see much."

"Did they all get out?"

"Yeah, unless one of them escaped right after you left and I came in. There were 8 when I arrived, plus an old man they were carrying."

The traffic light turned green, and Looker squinted in thought as he gunned the bike.

"Apart from the old man, there were 5 when I was there. That makes 3 unaccounted for."

"I don't think they were random people though."

"I'm listening."

"It was too bright, but I made out their badges on their uniforms. I'm 80% sure it's _them_."

The villain sighed as he pulled onto a sideroad, cruising towards a cluster of warehouses.

"Moving on: is our newest recruit in town?"

"He's in the waiting room, and Slay has his file. _Por favore_, don't scare the crap out of the guy."

"Give me a break! I'm not that scary, am I?"

"Nah, but you sometimes intimidate people with your aura."

"Aura sh-maura. Be here in 10 and I'll bring you all up to speed then."

Looker made a sharp left turn into a warehouse's lot, and pulled into the trailer port side of the lot. He rotated his handlebars to revv the engine twice, and glanced on as a trailer's rear door rolled up. The motorcyle shot forward, and Looker drove up the ramp and into the trailer, passing through the other end into the warehouse and speeding up over the speedbump to end with a flying finish.

As he coasted to a stop, the helmet and bluetooth went off, and his blue eyes adjusted to the dimness of the interior, making out a figure he hadn't seen moments ago. As soon as he saw the sweater vest, Looker relaxed and grinned at the approaching figure.

"Slayboy, rate that entrance out of 10."

The well-dressed man smirked as he smacked a clipboard in Looker's hands.

" 5/10. I could do better than that in my sleep."

He unravelled his muffler and stretched his neck, mumbling in barely audible tones.

"Whatever you say, Slayboy."

The man snapped at Looker.

"Why do you guys call me that? Who even started this Slayboy business in the first place?"

Looker placed a hand on his shoulder and returned the smirk.

"You shouldn't respond to it then. Oh, and try _not_ to do it in front of the newbie, or he may catch on."

Slayzone's incredulous expression spoke for itself as he stared upwards in disbelief. Looker brought him out of it by dragging him a couple of feet, before he started to walk on his own. The villain skimmed the clipboard's contents and handed it back to the other, peppering the other with nonstop questions.

"Where's he from?"

"Ireland."

"Name?"

"Timothy O'Sean, though his form indicates he prefers the moniker Ocean."

"I can see that. What's his deal?"

Slayzone sighed.

"It's one of the most old school, basic, fu-"

"Let me rephrase: what's the most he can do?"

The man looked extremely done and took off his glasses to emphasize that fact, wiping his classes with the edge of his sweater vest to de-emphasize his muttering.

"His ability is to pull things out of a hat. That's literally it."

Looker himself stopped and crossed his arms.

"Did you ask for him to demonstrate?"

"I asked him to pull out something potent, and he took out a bottle of cyanide."

The muffled man beamed in excitement.

"Did you give him the instructions to kill the next person that comes in the lobby?"

"Yeah, though he doesn't know that you're going to scare the shit out of him."

"Am I really that scary?"

"You should do it to yourself sometime and find out."

Looker waited as the other headed inside a room, and returned later with a tea tray laden with cups and kettle. Unusual as it was, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that there were more unusual things in store for the day - the next being the initiation. With a genuine smile, he carefully took hold of the tray and glanced at the contents. 5 cups, 5 saucers, 5 spoons and what appeared to be 6 napkins: apart from the numerical discrepancy, he gave a thumbs up before continuing on.

The two stopped at an old wooden door, and Slay grinned as he opened it for the limb-occupied Looker.

It was time for the initiation.

And it looked good so far, as the only person in the room glanced at him as soon as he entered. Looker flashed a grin as he set the teatray on the conference table, and sat down on a chair opposite to the man. His long brown hair that fell all over his head screamed Travis, and his apparel looked like what he typically associated with what he assumed an average Dennis would wear. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary yet.

The villain extended his hand.

"Ocean, right? Mind if I call you Sean?"

With the swiftest of motion, the recruit grasped Looker's hand and pulled a gun out of his hat with the other hand, aiming it directly at him without even the slightest quivering. He shook his head to clear his field of vision, and stared directly at his target.

"Bang bang, Mr. Looker."

Any intention of shooting suddenly dissapated as his target faded away in front of him, and a presence started breathing on his neck before ultimately hugging him from behind. It certainly wasn't what he imagined to happen, and neither did he expect him to move his head extremely close to his ear.

"_I don't know who you are, but you've got some nerve trying to shoot the guy who just wants a handshake. If a hand is being offered, you shake that hand strongly and firmly, and give it the justice it deserves. You certainly don't know where that hand has been, and you don't know where it's going next. These hands just killed a person, and they could be going for someone else right about now. Regardless, you need to practice your handshake etiquette, you skimpy son of a gun."_

Looker released him and slowly backed off before returning to his own seat. He wasn't very good at assessing reactions from people's eyes, but between pouring tea into the 5 cups, he couldn't help but steal glances at the other man. Those seemingly downcast eyes revealed nothing, and only lifted to stare at the cup that Looker offered him. With almost steady hands, he reached out and took hold of the cup and saucer, wearily raising it up to his mouth before stopping to speak.

The moment was cut short as the second in command slammed the door open and glanced at Looker and Ocean before sighing.

"Jesus Christ - this is why we can't have nice things, _primo_. You scare them all away."

AK daintly took the tea cup that Looker offered him, and sat down next to the Irish man, letting his arm hang around Ocean's neck as if this wasn't the first time they had met.

"Pardon him and his ... I don't even know what word to use, but you get me, no?"

"Sure."

Immediately after the dry response, the door opened once more and in came two more people, each under the seemingly nonchalant scrutiny of Looker's gaze. The first was Slay, who now was decked out in a lab coat that accentuated his sharp dressing, and tacitly revealed his occupation as a full time professional nerd, or at least that's what he should have been designated as; it was probably a good thing that he couldn't read minds, and even better that he couldn't do it when he took a seat right next to the villain.

The other figure was a woman who sported a purple tightsuit and held a helmet in her hand - clearly the signs of a motorcycle rider. She gently tossed her helmet on the table, and after the clamorous impact, fell back into her seat with a softer sound. Her rebel demeanor didn't seem to bother anyone at all, as Looker extended his hand and gave her a tea cup as if everything was normal.

Satisfied that everyone was present, he looked over to AK's direction and simply observed him as he set up a video call. WIthin minutes, two separate avatars showed up on the wall monitor and rustling sounds were heard on both channels, ultimately ceasing to make the room quiet.

It was time.

Looker stood up and slapped his hands on the table for effect.

"Congratulations for making it back to this meeting, everyone. And when I mean everyone, I include our newest comrade, codename Ocean. He doesn't look like much, but he has a formidable power, and I'm certain he will be able to stand with us in coming times."

If looks could kill, the newbie's gaze would have killed Looker ten times over. AK patted his shoulder to break the tension.

"It's not an insult - he's saying that you're easy to underestimate and that'll be your edge in fights."

The speaker ruffled his blue hair and stretched before continuing.

"Anyways, he's new, we're not...everybody introduce yourselves."

The nerd who took the seat to Looker's right leaned forward and flashed a grin at Ocean.

"Codename Slayzone, but everyone calls me Slay. It's great to have you on board. I'm the primary analyst, researcher, whatever you want to call it, on this team, and I'm gonna' ask you a bunch of questions about your ability power and training as we go from here. If you don't mi-"

They heard a snap, and simultaneously, the analyst lost his voice and the rapport he was trying to build. Several gazes fell upon the biker lady, whose positioned hand indicated that she was responsible. A moment later, she released her finger, smiling as Slay was able to mutter something incomprehensible under his breath.

"You have such a funny face whenever you get interrupted. I'm not going to apologize for that by the way."

As the disgruntled man roughly cleaned his glasses, she pushed her cup to the side and set her elbows on the table, resting her face in her hands.

"Name's Rin. Stealth and Mission Specialist. And in case you're wondering, everytime I snap, I can simply pluck any sound out of the air and throw it somewhere else of my choosing. Poor Slayboy here had his sentence thrown outside."

The grumpy analyst's half-hearted glare was stopped by Rin's razzling, and both turned to attention as Ocean moved his bangs out of the way and spoke.

"I thought I was the only one who had some sort of hand movement to cast my ability."

One of the avatars on the monitor cleared their throat, and successfully garnered the attention of all.

"Hiya! I'm May, Backup and Mission Specialist, and no, it's not just you sweetie. Everyone's ability is tied to some hand motion, and a long time ago, it was really easy to identify users based on their activations. For example, I can tame animals instantly by essentially petting them. It's different for every person, so don't get too discouraged!"

The cheerful message only elicited a nod from the new recruit, and in order to derive a more meaningful response, the second in command grabbed Ocean's shoulder and turned his shoulder to face him properly.

"Identifying activations before everything happens can often be a deciding factor in an actual fight. This is very important, _aking kaibigan._ You also need to know that some extremely high level users have mastered their ability to the point where they don't even need their hands for activation. Prime examples would be Corona and Looker here."

AK gestured towards the wide-screen monitor, and the Irishman followed his finger to the display. He was scarcely taken aback as the second avatar changed its picture to an image of the sun, and he was a tad bit more surprised as the voice rang out.

"AK, you're so mean, leaving me faceless on a call."

Looker turned to observe said person's eyebrows jump up in momentary shock, and tried to cover his smile at AK's confusion. His effort wasn't enough, as the SIC glanced back at him out of the corner of his eyes and raised a single eyebrow accusingly at him. The villain shrugged it off and responded in kind.

"Corona, you're pretty mean, leaving us deprived of your brilliant radiance."

For a few seconds, there was an overwhelming silence as everyone processed Looker's statement, and Ocean himself felt the tension of the room. It was quickly reversed by Rin's hard laughter and Slay's accompanying chuckle, and the recruit stared around in disbelief as he heard groaning and siging from around the rest of the room. Rin and Slay especially seemed to enjoy his gaffe the most, as she slapped the table a couple times as they laughed.

"Oh man, _Smoothest Man of the Year, coming through!"_

"You gotta' teach me how to pick up chicks, Looker."

Though embarassed, he managed to keep a straight face and nodded to AK, who stared down the rambunctious duo. It was all quiet again, and Corona continued.

"Just to finish that thought - I really don't mind Looker trying. There's no way he's gonna end up with-"

"Excuse me."

Ocean himself now leaned forward in interest of the sun avatar on the screen.

"Mr. AK said that you were a high-level user. Does that mean that your stuff is incredibly potent?"

Looker simply sighed and leaned backwards on his seat, whereas Slay and Rin began whispering among themselves. They instantly stopped as Corona spoke again.

"Not gonna' lie, yeah it is. But you need to keep in mind that there are two types of high level users. There's just really talented users like Looker, and then there are the Cardinals. Instead of what I like to call low-quality manipulation, there are 4 users around the world that can directly create and manipulate special elements. I got fire, ol' man Alcatraz back in Germany has earth or something, and there's Strad in the land down under, probably freezing shit up-"

May's avatar began to flash.

"I'm sorry to cut you off, it's just that we need to dicuss the issue at hand, Looker sir."

The villain glanced over at the new recruit, intentionally catching his gaze. Eye contact reactions weren't his thing, but from Ocean's determined look and his supplimentary nod, Looker replied back without skipping a beat.

"Ocean is one of us. He will hear this as well."

May cleared her throat and continued.

"Well, I got farther than I expected in my search. I found him - he's in the vicinity, sir."

Surprised expressions were prevalent all around the table, and the Irishman noticed it all. his ignorance really bothered him, and without caring for appearances, he loudly sought an answer.

"Who's this _he _guy?"

As strong as the question was, so did Looker answer the question with even stronger a tone.

"He isn't just any _he. _He's the Cardinal of Wind, and one of the Serpent Six, and also the one responsible for Lisbeth's and Gen's death. We may be horrible, but he's even more terrible of a man."

All eyes turned on Looker as he kicked back his chair, and stood up, crossing his arms as he spoke disdainfully once more.

"As long as he lives, we all are in danger."


	6. Chapter 5: Information Broker

Chapter 5: Information Broker

"As long as he lives, we are all in danger."

Initially the only head unturned, Ocean glanced in surprise at his leader, all 3 eyebrows raised. No, he had 2 eyebrows, what the heck was he thinking. Still, as bad as having 3 eyebrows was, this shady character was way worse.

AK's voice interrupted the recruit's chain of thoughts.

"If it's just ol' Merc, then just say his name. No need to be dramatic."

In an instant, those azure eyes became blank as his mind, and his gaze fell as he was suddenly at a loss of words to reply with. The lack of a witty remark made the second in command slightly regret his statement, and the silence was quickly broken by Corona.

"AK dear, it might help to remember that he was part of the Serpent Six, and that he killed both his parents and mine."

Her voice trailed off as Looker snapped once, and covered his grin.

"True that, whore-ona."

The quiet outburst shocked Slay and Ocean, and RIn crossed her arms and grinned in anticipation of what was to come. An awkward moment passed to process what just happened, and Corona breathe sharply. Seemingly like clockwork, Looker and AK withdrew earplugs and set themselves up, and Rin raised her hand, ready to snap.

"You wanna die, Looker?"

_Snap. Snap. Snap._

Rin was busy, snapping away at the now loudly grumbling Corona and throwing her verbal retaliation out of the room, though underlying phrases could still be heard: "...-less wonder, you...shove fire up your...when you were 12..."

Looker pulled out his earplugs and glanced at the analyst.

"What'd she say? I wasn't listening."

Slay grinned.

"If she did indeed say that she was going to shove fire up your ass like when you were 12, then I believe she was threatening you."

The villain immediately became flustered and started twirling his hair to distract himself.

"How about we put that little tidbit into a tiny box and throw it away where _we'll never come back to it_. Now, does anyone else have something to say?"

Amidst mumblings of 'gg' and 'fkn rekt', the new recruit cleared his throat to get attention, and spoke.

"I get the Cardinals, but the Serpent Six? Are they the bad guys here?"

Looker sighed and ruffled his hair as he looked around the table, until his gaze fixated on the analyst.

"Slay, you think you can answer this one?"

Everyone casually set their sights on him as he leisurely cleaned his glasses before speaking again.

"It's a weird situation honestly. The Serpent Six are like, the ultimate baddies out there, and we've been called the bad guys as well for literally trying to go against these guys."

He sighed and looked back at the leader.

"The media is so weird nowadays."

May's avatar flashed and she replied with her usual chirpy tone.

"You know what the media won't do? Cover us taking down Mercury, that's what."

With spirits raised and polite nods everywhere, all attention turned back to Looker as he donned his scarf and sat back down.

"I believe that it's an understatement to say that Mercury, Cardinal of Wind, needs to be taken out immediately. If it was any other cardinal, it'd be different, but given it's him, I'm issuing an order to kill. Don't let him live."

Again, the one called Ocean spoke up.

"If he dies, won't his Cardinal abilities be lost forever?"

Rin gently punched Slay behind Looker's back, and after a brief death stare, the analyst turned to the new recruit.

"Cardinals are special in that if they die without passing their ability to a successor, someone from their hot spot gets the ability at random. It's the same with rare abilities too, and I suspect-..."

_Snap._

Another death glare as Slay stared down the smug looking Rin. The blue haired man pretended not to notice, and sighed.

"We have 3 targets left, and while ideally we're gonna get them all, Mercury is strictly a kill on sight. Finishing off Sylvy will ultimately depend on the progress we make in searching for the Six's leader, so don't even touch him until then."

Again the Irishman coughed to get attention, and the leadership lazily looked his way.

"This sounds really naive, but why don't we just overpower and capture him? Or even better, get him to work for us?"

Corona's on-screen avatar flashed and she immediately responded.

"Dearie, you're not the first one to consider that. However, this man is a Cardinal who has committed mass carnage in the name of fun and treasure hunting, and furthermore, cut off ties with the rest of us Cardinals and allied himself with another group when he wasn't ever supposed to be partial in the first place."

Looker couldn't help but smile.

"Simply, he done goofed."

The second in command sadly sighed, and dropped down to a barely audible tone to mutter something incomprehensible before normally posing a question at the leader.

"I've never asked this before, but what's stopping Senor Cardinal from letting loose at any time? From the last time we met, I thought he was a really bloodthirsty man."

It was Corona's turn to interject.

"He is, but what we're assuming is that most likely the Six's leader is the only one that Mercury will heed, and that without the restraint that this leader is responsible for, Mr. Cardinal would devastate cities looking for a worthy opponent and not give a hoot about anything else."

The room fell silent once more, and the Cardinal of Fire continued.

"It's real simple; we can't kill the leader before we kill Merc, and we still need time to scout the area so we can draw him out with the minimum number of casualties. We'll just have to target Sylvy first, then Mercury and then the leader."

Looker nodded, and crossed his arms.

"Well...May, it appears you have your orders. However, since I literally just finished taking care of Faber a little while ago, let's call it a day and lay low for a bit. We can afford to take our time, and chill. Go to the beach or something- "

Small sighs of relief and accompanying smiles indicated that his decision was well-received, but Looker nonetheless casually pointed at a now curious Slay.

" –and before you ask, no, I won't go to the zoo with you or Rin. I hate being a..."

_Snap._

The leader grinned as a slightly embarrassed Rin snapped his words away and got up to leave, but not without slugging the analyst on the shoulder and winking as she exited. Looker yawned and nudged his second in command, gesturing with his eyes in the direction of the projector.

"Meeting dismissed. Come back soon, girls."

The rest of the crew took a couple of minutes to disperse in rather high spirits and leave the three senior members in the room. Looker and AK just stared at each other and then at Corona's avatar on the wall, both completely unsure of what to say. She sighed and assumedly gripped her mic hard.

"It's just the three of us, right? Just like how we started out, remember?"

The second in command raised an eyebrow.

"You two didn't use Identity Amulets back, so it's not entirely the same feeling."

His worries were quashed as Looker wrapped an arm over his back and rocked him a bit, laughing as he did so.

"Don't worry, my culturally diverse friend – we're doing this so we don't instantly pulverize people with our smoldering good looks - there'd be no enemies to fight then."

Corona joined in laughing as well.

"It's not like we care _soooo _much about our identity, dearie. Besides, you're like half Mexican and half Vietnamese – you already have two separate identities you can stick with."

AK turned his nose upwards in disdain.

"_Excusi_, you morons mispronounced Italian and Filipino, but the fact remains that we started from the ground, and now we're here."

The blue haired man started scratching his second's back without giving it a second thought, and slammed a fist on the table for effect.

"Hey! I just remembered – we need a name for our group. We're halfway done with our goal, and we might as well go official right about now, and give our people something to rally around – especially that new kid."

Corona put her hands to her mouth in instantaneous surprise, though the two guys couldn't discern such movement on the projector.

"Wait, you're saying that we _don't _have an actual name? What the hell bro? I thought we had one."

"To be fairly honest, the media knows you twospecifically, as Looker and Corona, and it's not too terribly hard to look for papers with those words. Besides, with your neon blue and blonde hair, it's also not difficult to picture search you two in the news."

The villain swept his tea aside and stuck his legs up on the table, completely aware that AK felt like punting him out of the room.

"We seek a name. Any ideas? I just killed a guy, so I'm out."

"Well, how about Team Sunshine? We can rid the world of evil so that the masses can enjoy happiness as we go spreading it around with my ability. It's perfect!"

Now AK started laughing, and Looker rolled his eyes.

"There are too many reasons why we can't do that. Murder isn't happiness, Sunshine sounds really juvenile and the universe doesn't revolve around you, yo."

The reply was quiet but potent.

"If your universe doesn't revolve around me, then you're in deep shit, bro. Besides, a corona is literally what you see when you look at the sun, which happens to be the center of this solar system. Check yourself before you wreck yourself."

The second in command fell out of his seat laughing, and Looker frowned at the fallen figure, now mumbling phrases along the lines of 'gg' and 'wincest'. Another roll of the eyes, and the leader helped his comrade up from the floor.

"Just so you know, it's nothing like that. And sheesh, watch your words – Rin is probably out there right now, snapping the vibrations in the air around us and –"

Their attention was directed to the outside, where they saw a figure in purple quickly turn and sprint away; Looker could only groan as what he feared was now happening.

"AK you biracial dung-lover..."

"_ti amo,_ Looker, but I have an idea."

"This better be legit."

"It is. How about we call ourselves the Seekers?"

The villain sat back and thought for a moment whereas AK took it as a permit to continue his chain of thought.

"To different people, we're seeking different things. Your country assumes that we seek revenge while other nations fear that we seek glory, honor, or war. And from an individual perspective, each of us on this squad is seeking something different from the rest."

Corona seized the following silence and spoke her mind.

"Ditto. It sounds legitimate enough to be taken seriously and it's pretty good to be honest."

The scarf dropped down a bit to reveal Looker's own grin.

"It works perfectly. I mean, after all, it's a game of hide and seek. We've allowed the Six too much time to hide- "

AK's gaze followed his movements as his partner got up and looked outside, creating the undeniable feeling that he was going to spit something profound.

" – and ready or not, _here we come_."

[ _A couple days later _]

"It's ironic in a way; we're minors that'll get into major trouble if we go drinking."

"Daisy, that's only _if _we get caught afterwards. Besides, I'm a bit more worried about who the hell let _him _be the bartender?"

The cloth skidded to a stop as Cron glanced at the two youth obviously lazing around aimlessly. It was an interesting tale to narrate, how he got the bartender job, but that single glance dispelled any desire to talk about his amusing story. Well, if they were going to be so kind as to be that blunt with him, then he might as well do the same.

The older man threw away the cloth and leaned over the counter, his smug smile clearly visible to Brandon and Daisy.

"Well, I had a nice interview with this young lady's father, and guess what? He _didn't _throw me out of the room on sight."

He wore a cross expression in response, and hunkered down on the freshly wiped counter, absent-mindedly staring at the drink rack ahead of him.

"Daisy's dad back then was one of the most insane people I'd ever met. I think of it as a good thing though, that the distance between us prevented me from catching his craziness."

A gentle slap hit the back of his head, and he turned his head to stare at Daisy quickly returning to sipping her drink. He had made the mistake of shit-talking her father in front of her, but he knew that they both knew how bad he could seem. At the very least, Brandon was glad that the only thing she did was slap him.

The young woman sighed. Certainly, her father could appear to be too much to handle at times, but it wasn't right to judge anyone from a single reaction - especially over _that _incident. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of their lives, and-

"I like where you're headed, Daisy."

She rolled her eyes at the bartender. Supposedly, he could read minds and all as his ability, but it seemed like it was all simple cold-reading and perhaps a careful inspection of body language. There was-

"You're thinking that there's no way that I could read minds as an ability, Miss."

Her eyes darted back to the voice's owner, and upon observing the man continue to clean up the shop, closed peacefully. Regardless of whether or not he was the real deal, her father had chosen a capable man to run the organization's front. Crontix looked and played the part of a bartender very well, but he was also the lookout stationed at the only entrance to their headquarters. It was probably fair to say that since the time she learned about the local M.A.G.I.C chapter, Cron hadn't let anyone unauthorized slip past his watch.

Another sigh. She wasn't a stranger to the place, but for the first time she felt a bit curious about the layout, and whether or not it seemed shifty to regular patrons of the bar. Nobody seemed to have any questions, and she took it as a good sign.

"Hey big man, if you really can read minds, do mine."

Her gaze fell upon the upstart youth, now attempting to nonchalantly man himself up to the bartender. Cron stared at him for a moment, and broke out into laughter, which Daisy began to consider as the result of an immature thought.

"_That jackass can't tell what I'm thinking right now_…my my Brandon, don't make me call my mama, 'cause she'll do more than make you eat soap."

Yep. She was right.

"Eh, that's close enough."

"Dude I just literally _read your mind_. It's exact, not 'close enough'. You can't bluff me at my own game."

Daisy started to zone out from the small bickering that was going on. So much had happened in the past week, and just today they had come back from the funeral. It wasn't like she knew Cooper well, but at the very least, she had to try to sympathize with Shade. The fact remained that something this horrific occurred right in front of her, and the shock lingered, debilitating her usual pleasant mood. Still, what could she do?

"Hey Brandon, your girlfriend is trying to figure out what do next. Help her out."

With a steely smile, her hand reached out and took hold of the bartender's uniform, slowly bending him over the counter until she was able to have practically unbreakable eye contact with him, their faces a little less than a foot away.

"Mr. Barista, as much as I love shipping, you are not allowed to ship me with Brandon just because we're sitting next to each other."

Cron brushed her grip away and returned to his normal cross arms position, ready to defend himself.

"That's essentially the basis of shipping, Miss Daisy. You see two people together, interacting in the slightest, boom – you have fodder for a ship. No ifs or buts."

She sighed and looked around, noticing Brandon serenely sipping his drink. It was serene all right, perhaps too serene, and Daisy broke out into another smile as she came up with a new weapon.

"Cronnie, did you know that during one of our friend's first time here, he'd follow Brandon everywhere he went and ended up being his neighbor who conveniently came over most nights?"

The youth in question spat out his drink rather violently, and the older man had to hold the counter as he laughed.

"Oh my GOD, Brandon! Why didn't you tell me about this, my man?"

He moved over to Brandon's location on the counter, where the already barely wet boy was trying to clean it up. Having the bartender set his forearms and his face on the other edge of the counter made his attempts to clean all the more difficult. He judged it literally impossible to clean the counter with Cron's rape face mere inches away.

"So boy, who do _you _got the dokis for?"

The air was laden with suspense as Brandon calmly set down his drink and pushed the bartender back. After wiping his mouth, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"If I say who, you better not read my mind first. That's cheap."

With a satisfactory nod, Brandon leaned forward and gestured for the barista to do the same. The moment he mentioned a name under his breath, all the lights in the bar fused, and Daisy knew something was up –

As Brandon was grinning.


End file.
